The Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is one of the important projects that will connect Thu Duc City with District 1, alongside existing ones like the Hanoi Highway and Mai Chi Tho Road in HCMC. Construction of the bridge over the Saigon River, over 1.4 km in length, started in 2015 with a total investment of VND3.1 trillion ($134.3 million).
Thu Duc, Vietnam’s first municipal city, was established with the merging of three HCMC districts, 2, 9 and Thu Duc. The municipal city has an area of 211 square km and a population of over one million. Ho Chi Minh City authorities working on eight traffic projects that will make the new city better connected to surrounding areas and localities.
Currently, the project is 70 percent done, but nearly 13,000 square meters of land in District 1 is yet to be handed over, delaying several works. The Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is expected to open to traffic by 2021.
The Hanoi Highway is the main route connecting Thu Duc City with the center of Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces like Dong Nai and Binh Duong. In 2010, a project to add 15.7 km to the road, from Saigon Bridge to Tan Van Junction in Di An City of Binh Duong, was initiated with a total investment of VND4.9 trillion. Eighty percent of the project is done.
Once complete, the expanded highway will have a significantly higher capacity to transport goods from and to the ports. It will also directly connect to HCMC’s first metro line, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien, the new Mien Dong bus station and other ring roads in the area.
More than 13 km of the 20 km Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro Line runs through the Thu Duc municipal city.
The VND43,7 trillion project with 14 stations, three of them underground, is 78 percent done. It is expected to begin operations by the end of this year.
In October, the first metro carriages shipped from Japan arrived safely at Long Binh depot. After this is tested, 48 others are expected to arrive later this year.
HCMC’s first metro line is a key national project. It will carry a large number of passengers from Thu Duc and the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai to downtown HCMC.
The An Phu Intersection, is the junction of Mai Chi Tho Road with the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway and Luong Dinh Cua Street, all primary roads leading to the city center.
Currently, the intersection suffers frequent congestion, which gets particularly bad on weekends and national holidays as traffic volume increases between Dong Nai and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces.
A project to upgrade the intersection with two tunnels, which has a phase one investment of VND1 trillion, is yet to get started. Together with the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway, the upgraded intersection is expected to solve the congestion problem and increase HCMC’s connection with provinces in the southeast region.
About 3 km from An Phu Intersection is the My Thuy Intersection. Work on this project began in 2016 with a phase one investment of VND840 billion and phase two investment of over VND1.4 trillion.
Phase 1, which includes the construction of the Ky Ha 3 Bridge, an overpass and underpass on Ring Road 2, has been completed.
The intersection lies on Vo Chi Cong - Dong Van Cong - Nguyen Thi Dinh route to the Cat Lai Port. It will help reduce traffic jams and accidents while increasing cargo transportation capacity in the Cat Lai Port area.
Ring Road 2 is a first-class urban road in HCMC. The 70 km route runs through Thu Duc City and districts 7, 8, 12, Binh Tan, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh.
More than 54 km of Ring Road 2 has been completed. The section passing Thu Duc City, named Vo Chi Cong Street, was completed in 2013, connecting with the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway.
Of the remaining 16 km, more than 8 km runs through Thu Duc and 5.3 km in Districts 8 and Binh Chanh.
The rest is divided into four segments corresponding to four projects with an investment of nearly VND16 trillion.
According to the plan, the route will be completed around 2022 - 2023.
Ring Road 3, more than 90km long, passes through Long An, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai. It is divided into four sections, two of which pass through Thu Duc City.
Work on the Tan Van - Nhon Trach section, nearly 18 km long, is expected to start next year with an investment of more than VND9 trillion.
The other section, more than 15 km long, will be built with an investment of VND6.7 trillion.
At the moment, only 16 km of Ring Road 3 passing through Binh Duong Province is open to traffic.
When all the sections are complete, the road will boost socio-economic development not only in HCMC but the Southern Key Economic Zone as a whole.
The new Mien Dong Bus Terminal opened last October. It hosts 22 fixed routes from HCMC to central and northern provinces. Work on the terminal had begun in April 2017 on an area of 16 hectares with an investment of about VND4 trillion. This is the largest bus station in the country, with the capacity to serve more than seven million passengers per year.
